On Our Radar

Health Care Stays Hot as New Year Kicks Off

As 2014 unfolds, investors appear to be sticking with some of 2013’s tried and true winners.

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Take health care.

The sector was one of the big stars of 2013, surging 39% and outperforming the S&P 500 by more than nine percentage points.

Health care happens to be Tuesday’s best-performing sector with a gain of around 1%. Six members of the group are breaking out to all-time highs, including three equipment makers – Becton, Dickinson (BDX), St. Jude Medical (STJ) and Zimmer Holdings (ZMH) -- managed-care heavyweight UnitedHealth Group (UNH), life-sciences giant Thermo Fisher (TMO) and pharmaceutical firm Actavis (ACT).